The present invention relates to a sensor assignment device having a sensor assigner prepared for assigning one or more sensors to a distinct one of a plurality of machine parts moveable by actuators. The present invention also relates to a method for assigning a sensor to one of a plurality of machine parts moveable by actuators.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Existing wired industrial control systems such as Profinet typically include a controller, one or more actuators and one or more sensors. Usually each actuator has at least one sensor associated with it in order to facilitate closed-loop feedback control. Typically, the setup of a conventional industrial control system is hard-wired. Then, association of sensors to actuators is generally straightforward and can be implicit in a wired serial bus architecture that is used to connect all the devices (whether actuator or sensor) to the controller. In case of wireless industrial control association of sensors to actuators (or vice versa) is less simple. Generally, each of the actuators and sensors will have a unique identification code. The identifications codes can be programmed into the controller and given the necessary association (pairing) there. For example, process data from a sensor having an identification code x may be routed to an actuator having an identification code y. However, programming this association is potentially error-prone.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved sensor assignment device and a corresponding method to obviate prior art shortcomings and to enhance reliability of accuracy of the assignments (pairing information) between sensors and actuators.